amalgamation of all the stupid junk in my head

Title: Finding the Way
Character: Shaun Murphy
A/n: Going back in the timeline in this one to fix my errors for communication with Shaun.

•

“Good morning, Dr. (L/n).” Shaun said as he brushed passed you and Dr. Claire to head to his locker.

“Morning, Shaun.” You said absentmindedly, trying to get the ink of your pen to run, shaking it to and fro.

Claire glanced up from her charts to look at you curiously, her eyes shifting to the back of Shaun for a second before she sighed. “I don’t get how you do it.”

“What? Keep my will to live? Cause let me tell you that I might be losing it.” You said as you half-heartedly tossed your pen to the side, deciding it was done for.

Claire couldn’t help but chuckle. “No, I mean,” She broke off, hands gesturing where Shaun previously stood. “He talks to you. You don’t even have to try, you just know how to talk to him.”

You held back the laugh. “Are you kidding? I have no idea what the hell I’m doing when it comes to Dr. Murphy,” You said with a bitter laugh. “We greet each other and sometimes I can manage to get him to talk about something small and then that’s it. I’m still figuring out how to reach him.”

“If it’s any consolation; you’re doing a hell of a better job than I am. I can barely get him to acknowledge my presence let alone something as simple as a hello.”

“Oh come on, I think it’s just because you weren’t very nice to him when you two met.” You teased, smiling whenever she gave you a pointed look.

“You of all people should know I was not being mean to him.”

“Of course I do, but like Dr. Glassman said, he can’t pick up on the same social cues we can.”

Claire nodded, both of you entering a familiar and shared mind space together. “Yeah, and there’s the whole question thing too.”

“Don’t remind me, I suck when it comes to avoiding asking him questions. I tried turning some into phrases and then writing them down, but they didn’t make any sense.”

Claire’s eyes went to yours. “You wrote down things to say to him?”

You squinted your eyes at her; knowing what she was implying. “Stop that, it just helps me think.”

Claire grinned, the crinkles around her eyes becoming more prominent. “I didn’t say anything.”

You elbowed her affectionately, closing up your charts before digging around your pockets. “You wouldn’t happen to have an extra pen would you?”

•

In hindsight, walking through a busy hospital while trying to shove your scrubs into a laundry bag to take home was probably not the brightest moment of your career.

You didn’t make it that far before your shoulder mashed right into a blob of white and blue, and the person in front of you would’ve toppled right over had you not instantly dropped your scrubs to steady them, your hands tightly wrapping around their arms.

“Oh jesus! I’m so sorry!” You cried in an apologetic tone, looking up right into the wide gaze of Dr. Murphy.

“Shaun!” You removed your hold on him as soon as you noticed who he was.

“Hello,” He said calmly, as if you hadn’t just knocked right into him, his hands adjusting to their normal place. “Thank you for catching me.”

“I’m really sorry about that, are you okay?” You asked with a slight tilt of your head.

Shaun looked blankly passed you, swaying ever so slightly back and forth.

Your face expressed confusion until you realized your error. “Right, no questions,” You said with a slight tap to your head, thinking for a moment until you spoke again. “You could have really gotten hurt if you had fallen.” You tried weakly.

Shaun nodded. “Yes, but I’m okay thanks to you.” His eyes glanced down to your scrubs on the ground, he knelt down at picked them before holding them out. “You dropped these.”

“Oh sorry,” You said, quickly taking them from him with a flustered smile “Thank you.”

“You say sorry a lot.”

The already glowing flush on your face deepend as you let out a forced laugh. “Yeah, it appears I do.”

Shaun scanned your face for a moment before his gaze adverted to your scrubs. “Are you heading home now?”

“Yes, my shifted ended a couple minutes ago.”

“Okay, you might want to drive more carefully tonight. There was an accident not too far from the hospital.”

Your ears perked up and you resorted to nodding at him. “Thanks for telling me, make sure you get home alright, too.”

“I will, have a good night.” He said shortly with one final nod to you before he walked away.